A historical perspective of the popular use of electric and magnetic therapy
secondary literature · 2001
LINK
SUMMARY
Peer-reviewed historical review by Jeffrey R. Basford (Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Mayo Clinic) surveying the popular and medical use of static electric and magnetic fields from antiquity to the present and the recurrent gap between their marketing and their demonstrated physical effects. Metadata verified on 2026-06-13: PubMed (PMID 11552201) gives title, Arch Phys Med Rehabil 82, 2001 Sep, pp. 1261-9, author Basford JR; Crossref (doi:10.1053/apmr.2001.25905) gives the matching title, author, container 'Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation,' 2001-09, vol. 82, pp. 1261-1269. Used in this bundle for class-level context only (the long lineage of electromagnetic health appliances and the scientific assessment of magnetic-field health claims), not for any I-ON-A-CO-specific fact; the review is a general history and is not cited as naming the Ionaco.
NOTES
Jeffrey R. Basford’s 2001 review in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation traces the popular use of electricity and magnetism in medicine over many centuries, including the wave of commercial electric and magnetic appliances of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and assesses the persistent mismatch between their broad health claims and any demonstrated physical mechanism. It is cited here to place the I-ON-A-CO within that documented lineage of electromagnetic health devices rather than for any statement specific to Wilshire’s belt. Identifiers (PMID 11552201; doi:10.1053/apmr.2001.25905) were confirmed against PubMed and Crossref.